It's true that this behavior can be unpleasant on some applications.
Luckily, it can be disabled with simple this gsettings tweak:
gsettings set org.gnome.shell.overrides attach-modal-dialogs false
Edit: on newer versions of gnome you also need to use this:
gsettings set org.gnome.shell.extensions.classic-overrides attach-modal-dialogs false
Modal windows will be then detached and resizable.
on gnome-tweak-tool
the setting is windows > Attached Modal Dialogs. First item on the screen shot.